Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1887-03-11
The Gar Stove.

The deadly car stove Ii still on lis
rounds, burning up wrecked railroad
trAins, and roasting human beings that
happen to be caught In the wreck, and
cannot be extrioated before the car
stove does Its work. The latest case
OF the stoves work is ut Heightsto wp,
New jersey on Tuesday. when broken
rail near . bridge threw . train from
the track, and the heated car stove Was
on hand with its accustomed prompti-
tude 70 finish up the work BY ORIGINATING
four human beings, one Of them toe
nall agent
These ca.es OF cremation In railroad
accidents are becoming too frequent for
safety, and they are going . oonsiderA.
bic distance towards adding 70 the un-
popularity OF railroad travel. There
10 Strong growing feeling that rather
than run the risks Of involuntary Gre
nation by the horrible oar stove, IL
would b better to do less travelling, ct
least In the winter, when the SAT stove
INSISTS ON being . daily DOM pAnion.
Another thing to be considered In these
late accidents that have % horrified
the public feeling II that the broken
rails, the flaw In rail or Whatever de.
feet causes the accident are near q
bridge. This leads to the suggestion
that there might be . profitable invest.
CATION - TO this cause There might
Be some unusual stress or strain upon
the rail By Sudden pitch from . bridge
90 rail, or from the rail to . bridge, or
there might be something between the
two that does not exist In other places
where there are no bridges. This ~
we'll - car stoves would be the better Of
Investigation. II II some consolation
70 Do told that In this late cremation
case In New jersey, ~ we'll - in other
casos In other States, all has been done
that can be done for the relief Of those
who were not killed but terribly MAIN
Cd. That, however, docs not bring
back TO life and to the homo circle those
Who were burned TO death after they
were crippled. II would have been
much moro satisfactory had the railroad
company rendered the burning Of the
victims impossible by adopting some
method shat would have done away
with the fatal car stove.
The truth Of the matter IL, that some
thing should be done and done soon by
railroad companies 10 insure greater
security OF life against car stoves In
wrecks. Anybody of sound sense
will admit that railroad scclden ts
will occur. In fac. they are unAvoid-
able, Notwithstanding all the precau-
tions that are taken. Bat 1t does not
follow that for the sake Of heat on
cold day the lives of passengers must
be further jeopArdlzed by having . red
hot car stove not only In one end of Q
car, but often in both ends. II car 10
derAiled and overturned 1t 10 hard to
see how the horrors OF cremation can
be avoided. 1t Ii bad enough to be
pinned down beneath wreck, but this
Is nothing, though MANNED and Grip
pied, compared to the horror OF the car
stove completing the work, and yet
everybody must perceive that this Ia
really one Of the contingencies OF rail-
way travel that has to be taken into
account.
But railroad men ask what we would
give them In lieu of the car stove. We
are prepared, they say, to adopt any
@@oTouAC thet Will Aaho ilto IuUFb b6-
cure In railway travel that can be sug.
gested. We doubt II there is longer
any excuse for the use Of car stoves
Experiments have already demonstrated
the feasibility OF using steam for car
heating and electricity for car lighting.
The difficulties in the way have been 80
fas overcome that there is nothing to
hinder the application Of them but the
expense OF making the change. Then
IL these difficulties have been overcome,
even at greater expense than for the
car stoves, We say emphAticslly that II
Is the duty Of railroad companies to
adopt the new method even IL 1t COSTS
more. The A nerican public will not
sOlerate the idea Of corporations cling
ing to old and dangerous methods
through parsimony, and yet there Ia
sufficient grounds for o suspicion tina,
corporations may be governed by tina,
feeling. 1t is to be hoped that the
feelings OF humanity alone will lead to
aspeedy movement on the part OF all
railroad companies to abolish the cal
stoves and oil lamps, and to substitute
steam for heating and electricity fol
lighting.